Alien Diplomacy

designated school and day care center. Jeff wasn’t zipping at anything close to full speed, and I realized Reader was right—he needed isolation. I chose not to mention it, as long as Jeff actually did as he’d been told, which I counted as nice personal growth for myself.
    “Wow,” I said as we entered and looked around. “They did this fast.”
    Jeff coughed. “Hyperspeed. You’ve heard of it. Try to keep up.”
    “Humph.” It was easy to spot Jamie; she was sitting between Raymond and Rachel, who were in front of Denise, who appeared to be reading a story. All of them were surrounded by Poofs. I checked my purse. “Why are all the Poofs here?”
    “Because I told them to protect Jamie and everyone else at the Embassy while we went after you.”
    Jamie made the Mommy AND Daddy Are Here! squeal. I cuddled her while Denise showed us around. “There’s even a nursing area,” she said, leading us to it. “Pierre thought of everything.”
    We discussed Pierre’s amazing awesomeness as I got ready to feed Jamie. Denise left us alone while we took care of business. I could tell Jeff didn’t want it to end. “James is right, you need isolation.”
    “I don’t want to leave you alone. God alone knows what you’ll get into.”
    “I’m going to be getting into my dress for tonight. Trust me, I know how Pierre rolls, and he’s going to have us primping and prepping for, potentially, the entire time you’re isolated. Go in for a few hours so you don’t have to be in for days.”
    He sighed. “Hate it when you’re logical and there’s no flaw in your argument.”
    “Wow, you must hate it all the time.”
    He laughed, and we spent the rest of the time just being a normal little family. Jamie was done eating far too soon. We handed her back to Denise, then called Tito. He met us up in the isolation chamber attached to our bedroom, tested all the fluids and such, and declared them all free of Surcenthumain and other toxins.
    The standard isolation chambers were always the creepiest place in any A-C facility. Dulce had a whole huge section devoted to them; when I was there, it always felt like being in the biggest haunted mad scientist lab and ancient tomb combo you could imagine.
    The chamber attached to our rooms was a lot better, being more like a very solidly insulated bedroom, just one with beds that had a lot of needles and tubes attached to them. It was better by far than the ones I was used to seeing Jeff go into, but it was still a room with tons of needles and weird tubes in it. I wanted out before I even got in.
    I kissed Jeff good-bye. “Be good, baby,” he said. “I can’t feel you in here, so I can’t come to pull you out of the Potomac or toss you into a safe place.”
    “I’ll be getting a dress adjusted, Jeff. How much trouble can I get into doing that?”
    “It’s you. I’d list all the potential ways, but Tito’s looking impatient.”
    “Hilarious.” I gave him one last, long kiss, then I was ordered out of the room by Tito, since my stress levels were already going off the charts.
    I left the isolation room, closed the door behind me, then decided to do the other ball attendees a favor and took a fast shower. Once clean, dry, and dressed, I checked to make sure the lights on the panel outside the isolation room were the right colors. Having so ascertained, I then hit the intercom button in our room. “Walter, where is Pierre doing the dress fittings?”
    “The small salon on the second floor, Chief.”
    I dutifully headed downstairs, but I called Reader on the way. “What’s up now, girlfriend? And what took you so long to check in?”
    “Jeff’s in isolation, Tito said everything was fine, I took a shower, forgive me for wanting to ensure I didn’t stink, and I’m heading to my dress fitting. I was wondering what you guys decided in terms of Ishmael and his crew.”
    “We brought over medical personnel from Dulce, and Tito has Nurse Carter helping out, too. They’re checking everyone over now. So far, Reynolds, Tim, Kevin, and I have been given clean bills of health. We’re also rounding up a veterinarian, at your father’s suggestion.”
    “Considering, we probably need to get a vet on staff.”
    “Let’s table that until, you know, after we see if we all survive tonight.”
    “Any progress on our assassination target?”
    “You mean besides all of us? After this afternoon, I think I speak for everyone when I say we have no guesses. At